“Mosquito Coil,” 1982. (Photo: Colour Themes)
At 7 years old, Jean-Michel Basquiat endured a bad car accident, ultimately leaving him hospitalized. While recovering, his mother gifted him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, a comprehensive textbook spanning anatomical, surgical, and clinical topics. Thus began the artist’s fascination with the human body, a subject that would prove essential to his work. There was, however, one specific aspect of the body that interested him more often than others: the head. Now, the Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark offers a glimpse into Basquiat’s explosive riot of figures, signs, and, above all, heads.
Cleverly titled Headstrong, the exhibition gathers nearly 50 works on paper devoted to the head, each created between 1981 and 1983. This period is often considered to be Basquiat’s most prolific and experimental, seeing him return to the head with greater frequency. The vast majority of these head drawings, though, remained hidden during the artist’s lifetime, despite centering around this recurring motif. Headstrong seeks to unveil not just the sheer prevalence but significance of these works, exploring how Basquiat treated the head, anatomy, and science as abstract symbols.
In comparison to his monumental paintings and collages, Basquiat’s head-related oeuvre seems more introspective, more intuitive, avoiding the viewer rather than inviting them in. Several compositions in Headstrong simply revolve around stark heads stripped of any extraneous information, suspended on blank canvases often devoid of the artist’s signature imagery. Untitled (Head) from 1982, for instance, features a face rendered in red and blue, complete with an unsettling, almost wild grimace. Mosquito Coil, on the other hand, leans more into anatomical references, echoing red flesh and skeletal forms. It’s as though we have gained x-ray vision, peering beneath the skin’s surface and thus beyond artifice.
Each drawing in Headstrong betrays Basquiat’s preference for explosive, gestural linework, and strange, graphic figures. But it also reveals a new dimension to the artist’s practice, one that’s more psychological and immediate. These stylized faces lay everything bare, devoid of substance so as to function as a vessel for Basquiat’s private emotions or thoughts. It should perhaps come as no surprise, then, that the drawings were virtually unknown to the public during the artist’s life, considering they strayed from the visual language he typically used.
“It’s not that we’re looking at a group of works that can completely confuse us—they’re 120% Basquiat—but there is no writing, there is no ‘famous negroes,’ no Miles Davis, no symbols of corporations or stuff from history,” Anders Kold, the exhibition’s curator, remarked in an interview. “I was interested in the way we have to make them out ourselves.”
There is also evidence that Basquiat created these works on the floor, thanks to the presence of smudges, dirt, and footprints. This fact suggests a level of spontaneity and experimentation, providing insight into a lesser-known element of the artist’s process. “There’s a frenetic, ceaseless energy to the works,” Kold added. “I think they are interpretations that include him, but they could also be about—and I wouldn't be surprised if it was—about the art world itself.”
Notably, Headstrong stands as the first solo presentation of Basquiat at a Scandinavian museum. It is also the first time that this group of drawings has been given standalone focus in an institutional context. In these ways, the exhibition is not simply unprecedented in its scope, but essential in understanding the full range of Basquiat’s creative vision.
“He took what had been known as a portrait, but it became just about heads,” artist Alvaro Barrington said in a recent interview with Artsy. “I think the heads were really about the world he was seeing.”
Basquiat: Headstrong is currently on view at the Louisiana Museum of Art through May 17, 2026.
At Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Art, visitors can explore a once-hidden treasure trove of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s head drawings, unveiling a new dimension to his legendary practice.
“Untitled (Head),” 1982. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Untitled,” 1983. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Untitled,” 1982. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Untitled (1/2 Black, 1/2 White),” 1982. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Untitled,” 1982. (Photo: courtesy of Sotheby’s, 2025)
Installation view of “Basquiat: Headstrong” at the Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark (Photo: Camilla Stephan)
Aptly titled Basquiat: Headstrong, the exhibition gathers nearly 50 works on papers devoted to the head and will be on view through May 17, 2026.
“Untitled,” 1982. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Untitled (Man with Hat),” 1982. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Untitled (Bust),” 1984. (Photo: Colour Themes)
“Head,” 1982–83. (Photo: Colour Themes)
Installation view of “Basquiat: Headstrong” at the Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark (Photo: Camilla Stephan)
Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat at Crosby Street Studio, NY, 1983. (Photo: Roland Hagenberg)
Exhibition Details:
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Headstrong
January 30–May 17, 2026
Louisiana Museum of Art
Gl. Strandvej 13, 3050 Humlebæk, Denmark
Louisiana Museum of Art: Website | Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by the Louisiana Museum of Art.
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